Livingston Marine working to get Americans, interpreters out of Afghanistan

Ronnie Alexander is a proud veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps.

He served for four years before becoming a local law enforcement officer for several agencies in South East Texas. During that period, he was also deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq 13 times as a government contractor.

Alexander has watched closely as the Taliban have seized control of Afghanistan and most recently its capital city, Kabul. Since then, his mission has been to try and help American citizens and Afghan interpreters get out of the country.

“We got a system down. We know which documents we got to have, who we got to send it too, and what websites they got to go to,” said Alexander. “Then because I have people that are at the airport that are friends, ‘It’s like hey man which gate do they need to go to.”

So far, he’s been able to help five interpreters evacuate by creating a small network of veterans and current Marines.

“I’m doing what I can. I’m relying on friends and contacts and coordination. If somebody that has some real juice with the government and can set me up a tactical operation center and a working board we can really get this going,” Alexander said.

Alexander said the mission to evacuate interpreters started Sunday and will continue because of what some of the interpreters did for him and those he served with.

“Because they sacrificed their lives, they put themselves and their families in danger because they believed in the American dream,” said Alexander.

KPRC 2 reached out to several elected officials regarding evacuations efforts in Afghanistan.

Dan Crenshaw’s office confirmed the congressman was doing what he could to help coordinate efforts to get American Citizens out safely.

“Dan is going to extraordinary efforts, to the point of trying to connect US citizens in Kabul with the military on the ground at Hamid Karzai International Airport to coordinate arrival at the gate around Taliban patrols,” according to the statement.

Senator Ted Cruz’s office also released a statement:

“Many other members of Congress and I have organized our staffs and resources to provide any and all assistance possible for constituents, their families, and others who are trying to get out of the country. President Biden should have already had a plan, and now he must reassure the American people that his whole administration is working on creating and implementing one immediately.”

U.S. Senator John Cornyn’s (R-TX) office said:

Our office has been in contact with the State Department on behalf of Texans in Afghanistan. Additional folks who are still there looking for assistance to get out should contact Senator Cornyn’s office and our team is able to assist Texans with the State Department. Additionally, Sen. Cornyn introduced the HOPE for Afghan SIVs Act earlier this year to expedite the immigration process for Afghani interpreters and translators who assisted US forces in Afghanistan. This language was included in the July supplemental appropriations bill which was signed into law

Senator Tom Cotton responded via Twitter on Sunday.